498 Chap. 4o. an Expofation :Ion the Book J o B. Verf.2 carry it, and bear the fway. TneApoflle is exprefs in it (Rom, $, 7,8,) The carnal mind it enmity againft tiod ;. and if fo, then it contendeth with God,for enmity will be contending ; and what kind of contending is there meant, appears in the next words, it is not fr46je E to the law of God, neither indeed canbe. Every natu- ral man, till Cubdued and conquered by grace, iscontending with the Wordof God ; he Cubmtts not to what God would have him do, nor to what God would have him believe ; he will not form either his faith or his life as God would have him. Infinite are the Contentions of man with God in this notion; but neither is this the contending here aimed at , and I would fpeak to nomore than is direly to the (cope of the Text. Therefore Seéondly, There is acontending with the works of God, or with what God himlelf bath done or is doing. Thusalfo there are many Contenders with God in ehe world, and this is the Con- tentionhere ftoken of;a Contentionabout the worksof God,what God either bathdome or is doing. All thedebate which ,fob had withGod, wa about his dealings with him. God had laid him low, and ffript him naked ; God had broken hisefiate, and filled his body full of fores andpairs ; God had wounded his fpirir, and filled his foul with gall and wormwood; God had with-drawn hiimCelf or his comforts fromhim, and his friends were againa him , or at heft ,, but miferable comforters were they all : Now thoúgh he was a parient man , yet under there prefiures he often broke out into impatient fpeeches. Thus ,fob contended with the Almighty, Moreover the Lord so:liveredJob, andlaid ; fhallhe that contendeth with theAlmighty (about what he is doing) I0rst11 him? Shall he have the better of him, and be able to reach him , or put him in a better waythan he is in ? Shall he give God the rule, the law how toguide the world more equally ingeneral, or him in particular. Whether the Contentionlieth about the providence of God to the whole world , or any Nation , family , orperron, it comes under thefame queflion , Shall he that contendeth with the almighty infirutu him? That is, Can he dire& God todo and orderthings better , or put them into a righter ormore equi- table courfe than they are difpofed in ? No, he cannot. Who is the pleader (faith Mr. Brotogbton) that will infirssi# the Omnipotent? let
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=